Thousands of people embrace Culture Night in Limerick

Over 50 arts and heritage venues across Limerick city and county threw open their doors to the public for the sixth annual staging of Culture Night on Friday last, with record crowds seizing the chance to participate.

The initiative, the brainchild of the Temple Bar Cultural Trust and Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, saw more than 6,000 people engage in a ‘cultural celebration’ across venues and arts organisations, which opened for free and until 10pm for the night.

City arts officer Sheila Deegan said the feedback to Culture Night in Limerick “has been fantastic”.

“The numbers, we are hoping, are up and it does sound like that was the case,” she said of the 52 participating venues around Limerick. Last year around 6,000 people attended Culture Night, according to the local authority.

“For the first time we had a little headquarters there in the old Ferguson’s Chemist, so we were able to interact with people. What was interesting was the amount of tourists that seemed to be around and the international students from UL were out, we met people who had come in from Shannon to Limerick,” she explained.

“People were standing at doors meeting people and encouraging them in. It is a very social night, aside from the obvious emphasis on culture, people are there who come out every year. It definitely seems to capture everybody’s imagination, which is fantastic.”

Over 2,000 people alone visited King John’s Castle, with people queueing before doors opened at 5pm.

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